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April 19, 2012

(+++) PRETEEN PROBLEMS

Readers ages 8-12 get
plenty of frothy novels offered to them, but increasingly, they also get some
that try to deal with genuine family problems in an age-appropriate but
nevertheless intense way.Simon Mason’s Moon Pie, for example, focuses on 11-year-old
Martha and her five-year-old brother, Tug, living – just the two of them, their
mom having died – with their alcoholic father.Martha has to assume responsibilities far beyond those that are
reasonable at her age, such as taking her dad to the doctor after he falls off
the roof, and reading Tug’s favorite bedtime story to him when their father
doesn’t come home one night.Martha also
has to bake Tug’s favorite pie to keep him happy, and keep the house neat to
keep everyone happy, and take care of her father to keep him happy – and who
keeps Martha happy?No one, of course,
and her “must do” list gets longer and longer as she tries to figure out what
is wrong and to hold the family together – or, really, re-make it.This is obviously too big a burden for an
11-year-old girl to bear, and it soon becomes overwhelming.With her friend Marcus, Martha goes to see
Dr. Woodley, and tries to get help; he tells her not to do anything, promises
not to call the authorities, and sends Martha home, where she decides about her
dad, “If she couldn’t help him to stop drinking, at least she could help him be
more like his old self.”But how much
can an 11-year-old do?“The problem with
Dad was that he didn’t realize how bad things had become,” Martha thinks.And the authorities do get involved, and Martha
and Tug (whose real name is Christopher) end up staying with their grandparents
while their father goes through rehab.There
is also a plot involving Martha’s decision to audition for a part in a movie,
and Mason pulls the book’s elements together neatly (a touch too neatly, in
fact) so as to make everything come out just right.The book is morose rather than deeply
depressive, but the unending succession of problems faced by Martha and Tug may
be a lot for young readers to take – not because it isn’t realistic but because
it is.

There are problems for
Carson Blum, the central character in The
New Kid, as well, but they are less wrenching and should be easier for
typical preteens (if there are any such) to relate to.Carson is “new” to a town in northern
California, where he and his dad have moved with their dog, Genevieve.Carson is nine – well, almost – and is
looking forward to his birthday, but is worried about adjusting to his new
school (which is large) and making friends.Actually, he does have one friend, a stuffed moose named Moose , but
some human friends would be nice as well.Even an animal friend – specifically, the class rat, Mr. Nibblenose –
would be good.Mavis Jukes here takes a
set of circumstances that could be troubling and uses them for mild pathos and
a fair amount of humor: Mr. Rat turns out to be a Mrs., for example, and has 15
babies.But not everything is enjoyable:
Moose goes missing, and there are a couple of not-so-nice kids in Carson’s new
school, and there is some actual school work to be done.But everything works out just fine, helped
along by chapter titles such as “Good-Bye, Hair Frog” and “Hello, Stuffed
Animal Day” (every chapter is a hello or good-bye of some sort).There is a minor mystery to be solved, and an
unexpected friend to be made along with the expected ones, and all in all, The New Kid turns out pretty darned well
for just about everyone.

Things are eventually
all right in Brendan Buckley’s
Sixth-Grade Experiment, too, but they don’t seem that way at the beginning
or through many of the novel’s episodes.Sundee T. Frazier’s first book, Brendan
Buckley’s Universe and Everything in It, introduced the character, and this
sequel takes him to middle school and a whole series of questions and
uncertainties.Some involve family, such
as the way Grandpa Ed and Grandma Gladys get along.Some involve personal challenges, such as trying
to keep his new pet anole, Einstein, alive.And some involve school, such as being paired in an alternative-energy
project with a formerly home-schooled girl named Morgan Belcher whonever seems to stop talking and actually
seems, maybe, to like him.None of these challenges is a truly major one,
but Brendan is also worried about some larger issues, such as his police-detective
father’s attitude toward him and his own feelings about his best friend and Tae
Kwon Do sparring partner, Khalfani.Brendan
tries to figure personal things out while spending a great deal of time on the
energy experiment, which involves producing methane from cow manure and an
apparatus using bottles and balloons.A
certain amount of the book is intended to deal with serious racial matters –
Brendan is biracial – but most of the issues that Brendan runs into here are
the sorts that pretty much any sixth-grader could reasonably be expected to
encounter.The eventual climax pulls
together Brendan’s Tae Kwon Do skills, his science ability, his protectiveness
when he sees a classmate being bullied, and his uncertainty about how tough his
father want him to be: “What did it
mean to be tough? And did I or did I not need to be it? …I liked thinking about stuff, and learning about
things…”Brendan finds out, not
unexpectedly, that it is all right to be smart and to be himself, and the book
ends on an uplifting note that will surprise no one but that young readers will
find most welcome.